Mexican Wedding Cakes

by Karen on December 7th, 2011

Holiday cookies–yes it is time at last!

Years ago we began making an assortment of confections to share with family: chocolate dipped pyramid shaped macaroons, Naniamo bars, rocky road, molasses cookies, cut-out cookies, and traditional Mexican Wedding Cakes ….all perfect with a cup of coffee or glass of milk! (and most are available in Cooking Gluten Free!)

Mexican Wedding Cakes and a jam filled version

Russian Tea Cakes…Italian Wedding Cookies…Mexican Wedding Cakes

My sister-in-law is the baker in the family and this is the recipe she always uses which I adapted to make it gluten free. Sometimes they are called Russian Tea Cakes, that version usually has about 1/4 cup more ground nuts or Italian Wedding Cookies which are often crescent shaped. Many Mexican Wedding Cakes have a touch of cinnamon in them too. My sister-in-law always takes about half of the Mexican Wedding Cake recipe to make an alternative version with a little jam filled thumbprint. Everyone loves this version and it adds some visual interest to the display of cookies as well.

Gluten Free Ratio Rally

Cookies are the theme of our monthly Gluten Free Ratio Rally– an opportunity to look at recipes made with a basic ratio that you can adapt to meet your needs, more is explained here. Our fearless leader this month is Caroline at The G Spot Revolution our master list of bloggers are at the bottom of this post.

Let the holiday cookie baking begin!!!!

Ruhlman’s Ratio

Ruhlman’s ratio for cookies is 3 : 2 : 1 flour : fat : sugar. This version is close to that ratio but I would be hesitant to add more flour and reduce the fat (which would make it closer to Ruhlman’s) I think his ratio might make these cookies crumbly.

Cookies are egg-free.

A soft dough

Finely ground almonds

After sifting the finely ground almonds with the other dry ingredients, I put the remaining ground almonds that didn’t pass through the sifter back into the Mini Cuisinart for another grind.

Oh Karen, funny the memories brought back by cookies. I’m just realizing, as I read your post, that my late grandmother used to make these (the Italian Wedding version, because they were crescent-shaped), and I loved them as a kid but never knew what they were called. I just remember all that powdered sugar everywhere, and licking it off my fingers after eating about 5 cookies. I don’t have her recipe, but now I have yours! Thank you so much!

karen, your cookies are perfect. they look exactly like the mexican wedding cookies my hispanic aunt would bring every year to our annual family christmas celebrations. after reading the other comments, it’s clear you struck a “memory” chord with a lot of us with this one! thanks for sharing…

About

Food is to be enjoyed….savored…even on a gluten free diet. This has been my guiding principle since my children were first diagnosed with celiac disease in 1997. Their diagnosis lead me to be a board member (2 years) for the Gluten Intolerance Group, celiac patient conference speaker, collaborator with James Beard award winning chefs on our cookbook, teacher of cooking classes, GF farmers market vendor, and blogger to help others live well on the gluten free diet. Learning how to cook can be an adventure that will introduce you to interesting people and a new way of life.

The photographs above feature my real, gluten free meals and sweets—your results can be the same. We do the testing for you!
Karen Robertson